Drawing a line under the debt. Take two.

Drawingaline · 4 December 2017 at 9:37AM

So, I can't believe that I haven't updated my diary since the end of march. So much has happened in that time I feel a fresh new one is better. Here is the link to my previous one.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5585379

So what has happened. Well my husband FINALLY got a job! He was made redundant in April 2016 and started a new role in June 2017. In that time I was holding down two part time jobs so that we could pay the mortgage and bills and in that time I also made a bit of a dent in the debt we owed. The role he got was originally a six month contract through an agency so we were obviously concerned for the future, but within a month he was invited to apply for a full time position and got it. So since the end of September he has been back in a permanent role, and we have no concern that he won't pass his probationary period which is up just after Xmas. The job is also with a very good company, and he gets a discount card for two shops so that is great too. The only downside is that he has to take two trains to get there which is about £300 a month and he is only on what he was on in his previous job, but due to our finances being in much better shape now it is doable.

I started YNAB in Oct 16 and have used it very carefully for the past year. I adore it and plan to keep it forever:)

So what has been happening to the debt. Last time I was here I had cleared our big loan due to wanting to avoid having too much in savings because of a massive mistake by the job centre with my husband's JSA claim. He signed off the week after the interview we had with them and I was planning to xfer the child benefit to his name for his NI to be paid but then he landed the job. We have heard nothing from them at all. I still think they may try to claw back the money that we received that we shouldn't have and of course if that happens we will dispute it as we didn't lie or omit anything, it was a massive error in their part, but we will pay money back if we have to. But nothing, not a word at all :rotfl:

I had managed to get the debt down from 22k to 17k with aggressive debt payments but in may I received a decent sized inheritance from a family member. Enough to buy a new (to us) car (mine finally died in early September at 17yrs old) clear 10k of debt and do some of the much needed home improvements. The reason I didn't clear all the debts was that we would have been left with nothing at all for the home improvements (and I was bored of having half a kitchen and no bath) and our back fence fell down in July :eek: so we have had a lovely new back fence out up, and am getting the back garden landscaped, had a new bathroom put in, finished the kitchen (apart from tiling, need to save for this) plastered the rest of the house, and had some new carpets out in. The relative that left the money was huge on owning your own property and I felt I needed to use some of the money to add value to the house. There is still stuff to do and I am saving for that now.

So our debt stands at about 8k total. One loan and one interest free credit card. My go going forward is to not add to that and clear the credit card within the time limit.

This coming year we are planning two big holidays so everything spare is going towards that, I need £3500 by the end of march, I have £1000 towards that already

but debt busting will be taking a bit of a backseat while I get all this money together.

Personally, I have quit one of my jobs. Once we knew my husband was employed full time by the company we looked at the finances and due to some quite serious issues our smallest child is having ongoing at school, we decided it was important that I was home more in the evening. Also the company that took us over a year ago are a shocking company to work for so the decision was an easy one to make and I quit my evening job. I miss it so much, it was a job I adored and I loved most of the people I worked with. But it was right for us as a family. So now I am self employed school hours, mon-fri, which is hard work. I get no time to myself and feel I am constantly playing catch up at home, but it needed to be done. The smallest boy did improve quite a bit after I finished work, but this past week has had a huge backslide again

Anyway enough about me now, I am off to catch up on the diaries I used to follow to see what everyone has been up to. So pleased to be back :j

UncannyScot · 4 December 2017 at 9:52AM

Hello and welcome back

beanielou · 4 December 2017 at 12:47PM

Happy shiny new diary

Keep posting.

WannabeFree · 4 December 2017 at 12:52PM

Happy new diary

Subscribed so I can follow

x

Drawingaline · 4 December 2017 at 5:24PM

Thanks everyone. Been an easy day at work today which is nice, Monday's are either easy or awful and then I find I play catch up all day.

It's Monday so the boy (eldest son) is making dinner. He is doing a fry up so will need a lot of supervision (he is 12) so will have to wait for me to collect husband from the station so eating late. When I finished my evening job I decided that the boy and girl could do the cooking one night a week. It's working out ok, but they still need a lot of supervision atm so it's a slow process!

redofromstart · 4 December 2017 at 6:53PM

Happy new diary!

Honeysucklelou2 · 4 December 2017 at 11:53PM

What a good idea to have the children cook a night each, great life skills.

Drawingaline · 5 December 2017 at 7:13PM

:eek:iSo today wasn't a no spend day. Had to pop into the supermarket to pick up a few bits of salad and veg for tea.

A nice easy day at work today, lulling me before the awful day I have mapped out tomorrow :eek: and the girl has a very sore toe, may be an infected nail bed, if it is no idea how I am going to squeeze in a doctor's appointment tomorrow at all

And then when I picked up the smallest boy he had not had a good day at all. It breaks my heart how much he hates school and the stress it puts him under. We are working closely with the school and a specialist unit, but it's all two steps forward a step back atm.

Nothing else to report on the finances. I get CB and TC next week, and paid on Monday (hopefully, it's normally around the 11th) so some bills can be paid, savings topped up and a dismal amount out aside for spends for the month of December. But we want to be able to do the holidays next year so need to be aggressive with the savings to make it happen. I want the debt gone when our mortgage deal runs out which is sept '19. ATM we are saving around £650 a month for the holidays, so once I can add that to the debt hope it will be gone pretty quickly!

WannabeFree · 5 December 2017 at 8:10PM

Ouch on the holiday costs.

At least it will give you an idea of what you can chuck at the debt once you're back though if you stick to it.

Hope DD is okay and you can fit the Dr in.

Drawingaline · 6 December 2017 at 9:34PM

So I had to take the girl to the doctors. I lost three hours pay as by the time she was seen and picked up the script I couldn't squeeze the job into the time left. Dreading January payday already as I will have a week off. Sometimes being self employed sucks. On a plus she is fine, needs new shoes though as she has gone up a whole shoe size :eek: luckily my sister gave me some trainers for her in the next size up, going to swap her old ones and give them to my sister for my neice very :money:

Otherwise a nsd for me. The girl cooked tea, toad in the hole, although the wierd one had his normal chicken pop things.

It almost wasn't a nsd, we are planning a night away for the wierd ones birthday in Feb, so found a premier Inn £84 for two rooms and breakfast for six. But the site just refused to take my money :rotfl: obviously knew I wanted a nsd. So will be booking that and the hotel for me and the husband for the end of December night away, tomorrow :j

Drawingaline · 7 December 2017 at 9:17AM

Quick coffee before taking the smallest to the special unit he attends in the morning. I have an afternoon off today, as one of my clients moved house so I can't clean the new one because they haven't managed to unpack much! Bad for money, good for me have lots planned to do. Going to go and order the vinyl for the kitchen and hall floors, this is the last amount to go onto the interest free card bringing the balance to 3k. Have a s/o set to pay it monthly so it will be going within the timescale of interest free.

Need to pop to town to pick up some gifts, grab some lunch then off to a friend's for coffee, a rare treat these days as I work 9-3 mon to Fri. Amazing how much I miss my free day times as I always worked evenings since the girl was born 13yrs ago!

Drawing a line under the debt. Take two.

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Drawing a line under the debt. Take two.

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